Granderson, Tigers beat up Rangers 13-5

Thursday

Jul 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2009 at 7:30 AM

Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and connected again in the second inning, and Justin Verlander equaled a career high by striking out 13 as the Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers 13-5 Wednesday night.

Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and connected again in the second inning, and Justin Verlander equaled a career high by striking out 13 as the Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers 13-5 Wednesday night.

The Tigers scored in each of the first seven innings and matched a season high with 19 hits.

Miguel Cabrera, who had four hits and four RBIs, and Marcus Thames also homered for Detroit. Andruw Jones homered twice for Texas.

Verlander (12-5) tied for the major league lead in wins. He boosted his AL-leading strikeout total to 172 while pitching seven innings.

The AL Central-leading Tigers improved to 5-8 since the All-Star break and scored more than three runs for just the fifth time in the span. Detroit stopped Texas’ six-game home winning streak.

Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux made six trips to the mound, including five in the first four innings, to try and settle down his pitchers.

The Rangers’ problems started when Granderson homered on the third pitch of the game from Scott Feldman (9-4). It was his 20th career leadoff home run.

After escaping a bases-loaded jam later in the first, Feldman was touched up again by Granderson and the Tigers in the second.

Granderson’s two-run homer and Carlos Guillen’s RBI single gave Detroit a 4-0 lead. Ryan Raburn had an RBI single in the third, and Feldman was chased two batters later.

Feldman allowed a season-high six runs and 10 hits in 2 1-3 innings, his shortest start of the season. The right-hander pitched eight shutout innings in his last start in beating Kansas City ace Zack Greinke.

Verlander, who struck out 13 against Minnesota on May 14, improved to 6-1 against the Rangers lifetime with a 2.37 ERA. He gave up four runs and six hits.

Michael Young had a two-run double as Texas, which lost for the only the second time in 10 games.

The Rangers scored three runs in the fifth to come within 8-4 and had runners on second and third with one out. Verlander struck out David Murphy on a 99 mph fastball, then got Marlon Byrd looking with a 97 mph pitch.

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